“What? Baby…”
“No. Mom, please. Just…just…can we talk about this some other time? Right now, I really just need to get changed and get my stuff and go.”
“You don’t have to drive me,” Gabriel says softly. Kind of broken. Embarrassed. Hurt. Choked. “I can find another ride.”
“Out of here?” I snort. “With who? Dean? There aren’t any cabs or planes or even a bus. So you’re not getting out of here unless it’s with me.”
“Maybe it would be better if I just left, and you stayed here. You’re upset. I don’t think you should drive like this.”
“He’s right,” Dad says. Up until now, he’d been pretty silent. His face is a mask of confusion, hurt, worry, and disappointment. “You shouldn’t drive when you’re upset like this. Let Gabriel drive your car, or I can drive it. Mom will follow behind us.”
“Seattle’s two hours away!”
“I don’t care. We love you,” Dad says. He’s basically begging me to believe him, and it breaks my heart. “We’re sorry you felt you had to do this. We’re sorry you’re upset. We don’t want this for you. We never meant for any of this to happen.”
“I know,” I sniff. “I know.”
“Then stay,” Mom pleads.
“I’m sorry. I can’t. I just can’t.” You know what else I can’t do? Look at Gabriel. I think if I do, I’ll never be able to stop crying. It’s only been a few days. Should this hurt so freaking bad?
“I’m taking you then.” Dad’s voice brooks no room for argument. “I’ll get changed too, and we’ll go together—you and me. Gabriel can ride with Mom. We’ll make sure he gets home.”
I want to be snarky and remind Gabriel that I still need to pay him, but that’s a low blow, and he doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t deserve for me to be mean to him or lash out at him just because he doesn’t want to change his mind. I should just grow a pair of balls big enough to accept it, not act like a child and throw a fit. This includes not telling my parents who he really is. Ever. I won’t ever tell them his last name. They’ll never know. They’ll never know how much I feel for him either—the surprising depth of it or the level of my pain. They won’t know any of it. After tonight, I won’t talk about it again.
“Okay.” No one follows me when I leave the room.
I’m all alone again. But then, that’s the way I wanted it, wasn’t it?
CHAPTER 22
Gabriel
“You, big brother, are an idiot.”
“That’s not very nice.” I set my beer down with a loud clunk on Sebastien’s coffee table.
He frowns at me because the coffee table is glass. He finally convinced me to pull myself out of my own den of misery—namely, my basement—and drag my ass over to his condo. The place is a new construction. He picked it out when I offered to buy him his own place and told him he could have just about anything. It’s not my taste, but it is nice. The view is astounding, but then again, his unit happens to be just about near the top floor of a twenty-something story building. The place has some floor to ceiling glass windows that look toward downtown, and a big balcony with a glass railing beyond that.
“It might not be, but it’s true. How could you just let her go like that?”
“I shouldn’t have said anything.” I look longingly at the empty beer bottle, but Sebastien doesn’t offer another even though it’s hot, late, and I didn’t drive over here, anticipating that I could have a few drinks and forget about the internal cesspit I’ve had going on for the past few weeks.
“You should have! I’m glad you told me. We’ve all been wondering why you’re even moodier and less friendly than usual. You haven’t returned any calls or texts. Mom was worried you’d freaking died. Dad kept telling her you were fine, that everyone goes through stuff once in a while. I knew it had to do with that weekend. You’ve been like that ever since, and it’s going on three weeks.”
“It’s only been two.”
“Two weeks and five days. It’s almost three.”
“Whatever.”
“Not whatever! I can’t believe her mom drove you back. She should have bitten your head off for treating her daughter like that.”
“She didn’t know. The last thing she heard, that night at least, was how it was all fake. She was pretty quiet after that. I don’t think she knew what to say, and I wasn’t going to volunteer anything. Anyway, they drove us back instead of helping people get home to their hotels after the wedding, so they all had to stay in the hall and the house. Marnie kept getting phone calls, and she had someone organizing everyone so they could ferry them back after. They found a few other DD’s, thank god.”